The present invention is generally related to component placement apparatus and more particularly to an improved circuit location sensor for use in robotic component placement apparatus.
In the prior art, location sensors for robots typically include a camera and a digital image processor in order to determine the position of circuitry on a printed circuit board. The camera scans the printed circuit board, while the digital image processor receives and processes each pixel in successive video frames to determine location-offset information. Use of camera location sensors incurs a substantial cost penalty in terms of equipment and software.
Alternatively, location-offset information may be manually entered into component placement programs to compensate for dimensional tolerances in printed circuit boards. This alternative is both time consuming and costly since manual labor is required. Accordingly, there is a need for a circuit location sensing apparatus and process that automatically determines location-offset information for printed circuit boards and compensates therefor.